OFDM/DMT/ digital communications system including partial sequence symbol processing

ABSTRACT

A method of managing a signal over a symbol period includes supplying samples of the signal at beginning and end portions of the symbol period. The method further includes suppressing the supply of samples of the signal at a middle portion of the symbol period.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of non-provisional patentapplication Ser. No. 09/379,676, filed on Aug. 24, 1999 now U.S. Pat.No. 6,804,192, which is a division of non-provisional application Ser.No. 08/772,321, filed on Dec. 23, 1996, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,118,758,which is a continuation-in-part application of application Ser. No.08/700,779, filed Aug. 22, 1996, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,790,514.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a remote service unit for use in anOFDM/DMT digital communications system. More particularly, the presentinvention is directed to an improved transmitter architecture for use ina remote service unit of a multi-point. OFDM/DMT digital communicationssystem. Multi-point communications systems having a primary site that iscoupled for communication with a plurality of secondary sites are known.One such communications system type is a cable telephony system. Cabletelephony systems transmit and receive telephone call communicationsover the same cable transmission media as used to receive cabletelevision signals and other cable services.

One cable telephony system currently deployed and in commercial use isthe Cablespan 2300 system available from Tellabs, Inc. The Cablespan2300 system uses a head end unit that includes a primary transmitter andprimary receiver disposed at a primary site. The head end unit transmitsand receives telephony data to and from a plurality of remote serviceunits that are located at respective secondary sites. This communicationscheme uses TDM QPSK modulation for the data communications and canaccommodate approximately thirty phone calls within the 1.9 MHzbandwidth typically allocated for such communications.

As the number of cable telephony subscribers increases over time, theincreased use will strain the limited bandwidth allocated to the cabletelephony system. Generally stated, there are two potential solutions tothis bandwidth allocation problem that may be used separately or inconjunction with one another. First, the bandwidth allocated to cabletelephony communications may be increased. Second, the availablebandwidth may be used more efficiently. It is often impractical toincrease the bandwidth allocated to the cable telephony system given thecompetition between services for the total bandwidth assigned to thecable service provider. Therefore, it is preferable to use the allocatedbandwidth in a more efficient manner. One way in which the allocatedbandwidth may be used more efficiently is to use a modulation schemethat is capable of transmitting more information within a givenbandwidth than the TDM QPSK modulation scheme presently employed.

The present inventors have recognized that OFDM/DMT modulation schemesmay provide such an increase in transmitted information for a givenbandwidth. U.S. Pat. No. 5,539,777, issued Jul. 23, 1996, purports todisclose a DMT modulation scheme for use in a communications system. Thesystem principally focuses on applications in which a single secondarysite includes a plurality of differing receiver and transmitter devices.The transmitters and receivers used at the secondary site of the systemdescribed therein, however, are quite complex and require a substantialamount of processing power. As such, the system disclosed in the '777patent does not readily or economically lend itself to multi-pointcommunications systems in which there are a large number of secondarysites each having at least one receiver.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A method of managing a signal over a symbol period includes supplyingsamples of the signal at beginning and end portions of the symbolperiod. The method further includes suppressing the supply of samples ofthe signal at a middle portion of the symbol period.

An apparatus for managing a signal over a symbol period includes abypass control that supplies samples of the signal at beginning and endportions of the symbol period. The bypass control suppresses the supplyof samples of the signal at a middle portion of the symbol period.

A computer-readable medium includes a set of instructions for executionby a processor. The instructions are for managing a signal over a symbolperiod and include supplying samples of the signal at beginning and endportions of the symbol period. The instructions further includesuppressing the supply of samples of the signal at a middle portion ofthe symbol period.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a multi-point communicationssystem having a plurality of remote service units disposed at aplurality of secondary sites wherein each of the remote service unitscomprises a receiver having an improved receiver architecture.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of illustrative embodiments of the head endunit and a remote service unit of the communications system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 illustrates two symbol constellations that are transmitted in twoseparate frequency bins in accordance with OFDM/DMT data modulationtechniques.

FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate exemplary bandwidth allocations for the localcable system and the cable telephony system, respectively.

FIGS. 6-8 illustrate various embodiments of the receiver of the remoteservice unit at various levels of detail.

FIGS. 9-11 illustrate various embodiments of the transmitter of theremote service unit at various levels of detail.

FIGS. 12-15 illustrate various aspects of one embodiment of a partialsequence filter that may be used in either the head end unit or theremote service unit.

FIGS. 16-18 illustrate one way in which the head end unit and a newlyadded remote service unit can initialize communications.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a multi-point communications system whichmay use a remote service unit having the improved receiver andtransmitter architectures disclosed herein. As illustrated, thecommunications system, shown generally at 20 includes a head end unit(HE) 25 disposed at a primary site. The head end unit communicates witha plurality of remote service units (RSUs) 30 respectively disposed at aplurality of secondary sites, over a transmission medium 35 such as acoaxial cable.

The digital communications system 20 may, for example, be a cabletelephony system. In such an application, the head end unit 25 isdisposed at a cable television transmission facility while the remoteservice units 30 are disposed at individual customer locations, such asindividual customer homes. The transmission medium 35 would be the newor existing transmission cable used to transmit the cable televisionservices. The head end unit 25 in a cable telephony network isresponsible for communicating with and interconnecting telephone callsbetween the plurality of remote service units 30 as well communicatingwith a central switching office 40 for sending and receiving telephonecalls from sites exterior to the local cable television service area.

A block diagram of one embodiment of a head end unit 25 and a remoteservice unit 30 is shown in FIG. 2. As illustrated, the head end unit 25and the remote service units 30 each generally comprise respectivebaseband sections 45, 50 and respective RF sections 55, 60. The basebandsection 45 of the head end unit 25 receives constellation data at one ormore lines 65 and performs an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform on thereceived data. The transformed signal is modulated within the RF section55 for transmission along the cable transmission 35. The remote serviceunits 30 receive the RF modulated data from the cable transmissionmedium 35 in the respective RF section. The received signal isdemodulated within the RF section 60 of the remote service unit 30 andthe resulting signal is supplied to the baseband section 50 whichperforms a Fourier Transform on the signal to recover the datatransmitted by the head end unit 25. The recovered data is supplied fromthe baseband section 50 along one or more lines 70 for further decoding.As is apparent from the block diagram of FIG. 2, constellation data mayalso be received at one or more lines 75 of the baseband section 50 ofthe remote receiving unit 30. The received data undergoes an InverseFourier Transformation or, more preferably, a direct sequencetransformation and the resulting signal is RF modulated for transmissionalong the cable transmission medium 35 for receipt by the head end unit25. The head end unit 25 demodulates the received signal in the RFsection 55 and performs a Fast Fourier Transform on the demodulatedsignal to recover the transmitted data and provide it on one or morelines 80 for further decoding.

The present system 20 utilizes OFDM/DMT digital data modulation forexchanging communications data between the head end unit 25 and theremote service units 30. Such OFDM/DMT digital data communicationsassign a particular amplitude, frequency, and phase for each transmitted“sub-symbol”. The transmitted “sub-symbol” represents one or moreinformation data bits that are to be transmitted between the units 25and 30. Each sub-symbol may be represented by a point within a“constellation”, the point being transmitted at a given carrierfrequency or “bin”. FIG. 3 illustrates the use of two constellations 90and 95, each having sixteen constellation points that are capable ofbeing transmitted within two separate frequency bins. As illustrated, asub-symbol having a carrier signal of frequency f1 has its amplitude andphase varied depending on the constellation point that is to betransmitted. For example, a constellation point representing the binarystates 0000 is transmitted as a sub-symbol at a phase of θ₁ and anamplitude of A₁ during a designated symbol time. A constellation pointrepresenting the binary states 1111, however, is transmitted as asub-symbol at a phase of θ₂ and an amplitude of A₂ during a designatedsymbol time. Similarly, the second constellation 95, preferably havingthe same amplitude and phase designations for its sub-symbols as thefirst constellation 90, is used to modulate a second carrier frequencyf2. The resulting modulated signals are combined into a single outputsymbol in which the individual sub-symbols are differentiated from oneanother based on their respective carrier frequencies or “bins”. It willbe recognized that many variations of the disclosed OFDM/DMTtransmission scheme are possible, the foregoing scheme being merelyillustrated herein to provide a basic understanding of OFDM/DMTcommunications.

Referring to FIG. 4 there is shown an exemplary break-up of thebandwidth allocated to a local cable television service. As illustrated,the entire allocated bandwidth is further sub-allocated into smallerbandwidth portions for the transmission of selected services such ascable television, audio broadcasting, cable telephony, and othermiscellaneous services. The bandwidth allocated for cable telephonyconstitutes the focus of further discussion. However, it will berecognized that the digital communications system described herein canbe utilized in any multi-point digital data communications system.

FIG. 5 illustrates the bandwidth allocated, for example, to the cabletelephony communications. Without limitation, the bandwidth of theexemplary embodiment may be about 2 MHz with a center frequency of about600 MHz. As shown, the bandwidth is divided into a plurality offrequency bins 100, each bin carrying a sequence of sub-symbolscorresponding to the data that is to be communicated. The head end unit35 sends and receives data to and from multiple remote service units 30and must be capable of processing substantially all, if not all of thebins allocated to cable telephony transmission. Accordingly, the headend unit 25 must have a substantial amount of processing power. Such ahigh amount of processing power naturally gives rise to increasedproduction, maintenance, and power costs. Similarly, the remote serviceunits 30 require substantial processing power if they are to eachprocess the entire bandwidth or number of bins allocated to the cabletelephony communications and transmitted by the head end unit 25.

The present inventors, however, have recognized that many applicationsusing multi-point, OFDM/DMT data communications do not require that theremote service units 30 process the entire number of bins transmitted bythe transmitter at the primary site. Rather, as recognized by thepresent inventors, the remote service units 30 employed in many types ofOFDM/DMT data communications systems, such as cable telephony systems,need only be capable of processing a limited number of bins of theentire number of bins transmitted by the head end unit 25.

Based on this recognition, the remote service units 30 are designed toprocess substantially fewer bins than the entire number of binstransmitted by the head end unit 25. More particularly, the receiverarchitecture of each RSU is particularly adapted to exclusivelydigitally process only a limited number of bins of the larger number ofOFDM/DMT bins that are transmitted by the head end unit 25. Remoteservice units 30 disposed at different secondary sites are preferablydesigned to process different subsets of bins. More preferably, theparticular subsets of bins processed by any remote service units isdependent on command transmissions received from the head end unit 25.

Such a receiver architecture has several advantages. For example, thedigital signal processing capability required by the receiver of eachRSU is significantly reduced thereby making each RSU more economical todesign, manufacture, and maintain. Additionally, each RSU consumes lesspower than would otherwise be required if each RSU had to process thecomplete number of bins sent by the head end unit 25.

FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram of one embodiment of a receiver 110suitable for use in the remote service units 30. As illustrated, theexemplary embodiment is comprised of five functional sections: an RFconversion section 115, an IF-to-digital conversion section 120, aFourier Transform section 125, a decoding and framing section 130, and atiming and control logic section 140.

The RF conversion section 115 receives the RF signal from thetransmission medium 35 through, for example, a splitter, and transposesthe desired part of the OFDM/DMT spectrum containing the informationthat is to be recovered into a predetermined intermediate frequency (IF)pass band. As will be readily recognized, and as will be set forth infurther detail below, the RF conversion is achieved with a combinationof mixers, filters, and frequency synthesizers.

The IF-to-digital section 120 is used to sample the IF analog signaloutput of the RF conversion section 115 and provide a digital outputsignal corresponding to fewer than all of the bins transmitted by thehead end unit 25. The resulting digital output signal can thus beprocessed by the Fourier Transform section 125 using substantially lessprocessing power than would otherwise be required to process the fullnumber of bins. The desired output signal is achieved by band passfiltering the signal to provide a signal that comprises a subset of theoriginal OFDM/DMT bins transmitted by the head end unit 25. Thisfiltered signal is then under-sampled such that the desired signal foldsdown to near base band via an aliasing process. Under-sampling permitsthe use of a lower frequency A-to-D conversion than would otherwise berequired. Additionally, the under sampling reduces the number of digitalsamples that are generated, thereby reducing the amount of processingpower required in subsequent digital processing steps in the FourierTransform section 125.

It will be recognized, however, that under sampling is not the onlychoice for reducing the number of digital samples that are generated tothe subsequent sections. For example, a mixer could be used to mix thefiltered signal to base band thereby reducing the sampling frequencyrequired to properly sample the received signal. This too would allowone to take advantage of the reduced bin receiver to reduce speed,complexity, and power usage of the system.

The Fourier Transform section 125 is used to take the Fourier transformof the sampled signal output from the IF-to-digital section 120 in orderto obtain a frequency domain representation of the OFDM/DMT modulatedsignal. This can be achieved in any one of multiple ways. First, theFourier Transform section 125 may include a digital signal processorthat performs a Fourier Transform on the sampled data. However, unlikeordinary OFDM/DMT digital communications which perform a Fast FourierTransform over all the bins sent by the transmitter at the primary site,the Fourier Transform implemented by the presently disclosed receiver110 is taken over a reduced number of bins. This results in significantcost and power savings. A further improvement can be achieved in thecase where the sampled signal received from the IF-to-digital section120 contains more bins than any individual receiver needs to receive. Inthis case, a hardware correlator could be used to obtain a FourierTransform of only the bin frequencies containing data that the receiver110 is to recover. This permits further power and complexity reductionwhen the narrow band receive window is still somewhat larger than theneeded bandwidth. Furthermore, this architecture allows the speed andpower consumption to be scaled according to the number of bins anyparticular receiver needs to receive.

It will be recognized that an FFT can be performed on the reduce subsetof received bins yet still reap the advantages inherent in the disclosedreceiver architecture. This is due to the fact that the FFT can beimplemented using a digital signal processor of reduced complexity whencompared to an FFT processing the entire bandwidth transmitted by thehead end unit 25.

The decoding and formatting section 130 receives the processed output ofthe Fourier Transform section 125 and converts the received frequencydomain constellation points into the corresponding data they representthereby completing the recovery of the transmitted data. The decodingand formatting section 130 also performs any error correction, digitalequalization, slicing to bits, framing, and descrambling that isrequired. Such decoding and formatting, as is readily recognized, isdependent on the framing and formatting used by the head end unit 25 intransmitting the data and may take on any form.

It is worth noting that phase compensation can be implemented in thedecoding and formatting section 130 to compensate for any differencesbetween the mixing frequencies of the transmitter of the head end unit25 and the mixing frequencies of the receiver of the remote service unit30. Such phase compensation can be implemented by effectively rotatingthe phase of each received sub-symbol through a predetermined phaseangle θ₃ during each symbol period. As such, the phase angle throughwhich each sub-symbol is rotated is a multiple of θ₃. For example, afirst sub-symbol during a first symbol period T1 is rotated by phaseangle θ₃ while the next sub-symbol received during a subsequent secondsymbol period T2 is rotated by a phase angle equal to 2*θ₃.

The output from the decoding and formatting section 130 is supplied tothe input of one or both of an analog-to-digital section 132 and directdigital section 137. The analog-to-digital section 132 converts thedigital information received from the decoding and formatting section130 to an analog signal that may be supplied to various analog devices.The direct digital section 137 provides an interface between the digitalsignal output of the decoding and formatting section 130 and any digitaldata devices.

A centralized timing and control block 140 is used in the illustratedembodiment to provide the timing and control signals required tocoordinate the operation of the other processing sections. It will berecognized, however, that this timing and control function may also beperformed in a decentralized way, wherein each of the individualprocessing sections 115, 120, 125, and 130 contain or share individualtiming and control circuitry. However, in such instances, additionalsynchronization circuitry dealing with the resulting asynchronous natureof the clocks in the individual sections may be required. Such adecentralized architecture could also require more pipelining with itsassociated memory.

FIG. 7 illustrates one manner in which the RF section 115, theIF-to-digital section 120, and a portion of the Fourier Transformsection 125 can be implemented. As shown, the signal transmitted fromthe head end unit 25 is received by a first bandpass filter 150 that,for example, has a wide pass band with end frequencies of about 470 MHzand 750 MHz. The signal from the bandpass filter 150 is supplied to theinput of a tuner 155 that has its characteristics determined by theoutput of a tuner synthesizer 160 that is tied to receive the output ofa reference clock that, for example, has a clock frequency of about 4MHz. Without limitation, the tuner 155 mixes the signal from thebandpass filter 150 to a signal having a frequency of about 240 MHz. Theoutput of the tuner 155 is supplied to the input of a further filter165, a SAW filter in the illustrated embodiment. The output of SAWfilter 165 is supplied to an IF mixer 170 that transposes the signal toan intermediate frequency (IF) of, for example, 10.7 MHz. The mixer 170performs the IF conversion by mixing the signal received from the SAWfilter 165 with the signal generated by oscillator 175. The signalgenerated by the oscillator 175 is synchronized to the reference clocksignal received on line 180.

The received signal, now converted to the IF band, is subsequentlysupplied to the input of an IF bandpass filter 185 that, for example,has a 300 KHz bandwidth and a center frequency of about 10.7 MHz. Theoutput of the bandpass filter 185 is an OFDM/DMT modulated signal havingonly a subset of the entire number of bins transmitted by the head endunit 25. One or both of the filters 165 and 185, however, may be used toreduce the bandwidth of the received signal so as to limit the number ofbins that are ultimately processed. The filtered IF signal is convertedto a digital signal by an A/D converter 190 that has its conversionclock on line 195 synchronized to the reference clock on line 180through a clock dividing circuit 200. As noted above, the conversionclock frequency may be selected to be low enough to result inundersampling of the IF signal thereby reducing the number of samplessupplied at the A/D converter 190 output. An increased in the samplingrate, however, can be used to compensate for any inexactness of filters170 and/or 185.

The output of the A/D converter 190 is supplied to the input of adigital signal processing circuit 205 that generates the FourierTransform of the signal that it receives, extracts the received symbolsbased on the Fourier Transform information, and performs any otherprocessing functions required. In a cable telephony system, the outputof the digital processing circuit 205 may be supplied to the inputs ofone or more D/A converters or CODECs that convert the data contained inthe received symbols to one or more analog output signals, such as audiovoice signals, that can be heard by a person engaged in a telephoneconversation.

FIG. 8 illustrates one embodiment of a hardware correlator 210 that maybe used in the Fourier Transform section 125. The illustrated hardwarecorrelator 210 is designed to correlate nine frequency bins within thetotal bandwidth of frequency bins that are provided in digital format atthe output of the A/D converter 190 of, for example, the IF-to-digitalcircuit 120. The correlator 210 includes a multiplier section 215, afrequency generator section 220, and an accumulator section 225. Asshown, the multiplier section 215 receives the digital data that isoutput from the IF-to-digital section 125 and multiplies each value bythe sine and cosine value of each of the nine frequency bins. The sineand cosine values are supplied as inputs to the multiplier 215 from thefrequency generator section 220. The frequency generator section 220includes a step-size register 225 that includes, in the presentembodiment, nine register locations that are programmed by amicrocontroller or digital signal processor. The values stored in thestep-size register 225 are used to determined the step-size of theaddresses supplied to address the data in a cosine table ROM 230, shownhere has a quarter wave cosine table. An address modifier circuit 235receives the address data from the address register 240 and modifies thedata so that the address data supplied to the cosine table ROM 230 fallswithin an acceptable range of addresses and thereby accesses the properportion of the wave. A sine/cosine bit is supplied from, for example,the timing and control circuit 140 so that each value received from theIF-to-digital converter 125 is multiplied by both the sine and cosinevalues of each of the nine frequency bins. The data resulting from themultiplication operation are accumulated in the accumulator section 225and output to the decoder/formatting section 130 for further processing.

One embodiment of a transmitter suitable for use in the remote serviceunits 30 is illustrated in FIG. 9. The transmitter, shown generally at300 transmits its digital data in an OFDM/DMT modulated format using anumber of bins that is less than the number of bins transmitted andreceived by the head end unit 25. Accordingly, the transmitter 300 cangenerate the OFDM/DMT transmission output by modulated direct digitalsynthesis.

The transmitter 300 of the illustrated embodiment is designed to acceptboth analog and digital signal information for OFDM/DMT transmission.Accordingly, the transmitter 300 includes an analog-to-digital interfaceunit 305 and a direct digital interface unit 310. The analog-to-digitalinterface unit 305 is used to sample an analog signal, such as a voicesignal of a person engaged in a telephone conversation, and convert itto digital data to be transmitted. For example, the analog-to-digitalinterface unit 305 may contain CODECs and SLICs for connecting one ormore telephones to the system.

The direct digital interface unit 310 interfaces with any type of devicethat provides a signal that is already in digital format. For example,the direct digital interface unit 310 might have a serial interface forreceiving data, as in a modem application. The unit 310 might alsoreceive data from a system CPU to be sent to the receiver of the headend unit 25.

The transmitter 300 also includes a data interface unit 315. The datainterface unit 315 receives data from any combination of the following:sampled analog data from the output of the analog-digital interface unit305, direct digital data from the output of the direct digital interfaceunit 310, or other digital data sources that, for example, providesystem communication information generated from within or without thedata interface unit 315. The data interface unit 315 formats the datareceived from these data sources into a single data stream. Tasks suchas data framing, scrambling, error correction coding, CRC generation,data synchronization, and stuffing may be performed by the datainterface unit 315 as part of the formatting function. Optionally, thedata interface unit 315 may group the data into words that represent theunique constellation points to be transmitted. As will be readilyrecognized, the specific formatting operations executed by the datainterface unit 315 are dependent on the particular requirements of thecommunications system in which the remote service unit 30 is employed.

The serial data stream output from the data interface unit 315 issupplied to the input of the transmit engine circuit 320. The data thatthe transmit engine circuit 320 receives includes one constellationpoint for each OFDM/DMT bin of the reduced set of bins that is activeduring a single symbol time. The transmit engine circuit 320 isresponsible for calculating the Inverse Fourier Transform on the datastream that is to be modulated and for producing a time domain sequencefor each symbol along with any cyclic prefix. Generally, systems usingOFDM/DMT modulation performs this function using an IFFT that isimplemented, for example, with a digital signal processor. However in amulti-point application, such as the communication system disclosedherein, only a limited number of the possible frequencies or bins areused by each secondary transmitter. Given that only a portion of thetotal available transmission bandwidth is utilized, the disclosedsecondary transmitter architecture is more efficient and cost-effective.

In the preferred embodiment of the transmit engine circuit 320, the timedomain sequence is generated by modulated direct digital synthesis,sample by sample. In addition to reducing the complexity of thetransmitter, this operation reduces system latency. The time domainsequence for a given symbol is created by generating sine waves, sampleby sample, and adding them together. The frequency determines the bin inwhich the data will be received. The phase and amplitude are used toconvey the data intelligence.

Additionally, the preferred embodiment of the system is such that thereare 256 bins between 0 Hz and the Nyquist frequency. This is typical inOFDM/DMT systems. That is, the spectrum between 0 Hz and the Nyquistfrequency is divided into a number of bins wherein the number is a powerof 2, i.e. 2^(n) where n is an integer. This facilitates the use of FFTsand IFFTs. However, the presently disclosed transmitter 300 preferablyuses a Nyquist frequency that is greater than the transmit bandwidth,thereby leaving a number of bins turned off on each edge. Such atransmission scheme provides a natural filtering effect at the edges ofthe bandwidth. In the preferred embodiment, 209 bins fit within theallocated transmit bandwidth. An additional eight bins are turned off oneither end of that bandwidth to leave some transition bandwidth forfilters.

Optionally, the transmitter 300 may utilize a digital filter 325 thatreceives the output of the transmit engine circuit 320. This optionalfilter performs any desired digital filtering of the output stream and,for example, may be useful in further limiting the bandwidth of thesignal. The filter 325 may be, for example, a digital partial sequencefilter with reduced complexity. Such a digital partial sequence filteris set forth below.

The digital sequence output from either the digital filter 325 or thetransmit engine circuit 320 is supplied to the input of adigital-to-baseband converter or a digital-to-IF converter 330 dependingon whether the signal output is at an IF or at baseband. The converter330 includes components that perform digital-to-analog conversion andanalog filtering. If the output is at an IF, a bandpass filter centeredaround any image of the output spectrum may be employed. This results inan IF signal that is more easily processed in subsequent operations.

The output of the converter 330 is supplied to the input of an RFfrequency converter 335. The RF frequency converter 335 shifts theOFDM/DMT spectrum from IF or baseband to the desired RF frequency. Aswill be readily recognized, the RF frequency converter 335 may beimplemented using a combination of mixers, filters, and frequencysynthesizers to implement the conversion functions and provides anOFDM/DMT output that is suitable for transmission along the transmissionmedium.

Timing and control of the transmitter system 300 is provided by a commontiming and control logic circuit 340. A centralized timing and controlcircuit 340 is used in the illustrated embodiment. This function,however, could also be performed in a decentralized way. Ifdecentralized timing and control are utilized, the timing and controlcircuits would likely be more complex to deal with the resulting lack ofsynchronism between circuits. It could also require more pipelining withits associated memory.

One embodiment of digital transmission circuitry that may be used togenerate the digital OFDM/DMT signal for subsequent D/A conversion andRF modulation is set forth in FIG. 10. The digital transmissioncircuitry 350 illustrated here may be used to implement, inter alia, thetransmit engine circuit 320 of FIG. 9. The digital transmissioncircuitry 350 accepts digital data from, for example, the output offirst and second CODECs respectively associated with individual firstand second telephones. Additionally, the circuitry 350 may receivedigital data that is to be transmitted in embedded control channelswithin the transmitted signal, each of the embedded control channelsbeing respectively associated with one of the first and secondtelephones. The digital data output from the CODECs and on the embeddedcontrol channels are combined together by a combiner circuit 360 intotwo separate data groups, illustrated here as DATA1 and DATA2. Thepresently disclosed embodiment provides the capability of generatingOFDM/DMT transmissions in one or more of nine frequency bins.

Each data group DATA1 and DATA2 is supplied to the input of an encoderlogic circuit 365. The encoder logic circuit 365 divides the data groupsinto symbol groups and maps each symbol to a point of a constellation toobtain a phase and amplitude for each symbol. The amplitude informationfor each symbol is provided on one or more lines 370, while the phaseinformation for each symbol is provided on one or more lines 375.

Generation of the desired frequency and phase for each symbol takesplace through the interrelated operation of the start address selectionROM 380, the step size selection register 385, adder 390, addressregister 395, address modifier 400, and sine table ROM 405. The sinetable ROM 405 contains the digital data representation of a sine wave,or selected portion thereof, shown here as a quarter wave table, insuccessive addressable memory locations. The successive, addressablememory locations of the sine table ROM 405 are addressed in a specificmanner to provide a digital output signal having the phase and frequencycharacteristics of the symbol that it is to represent. The phase of thesine wave represented by the digital output signal is dependent on thememory location that is first addressed at the beginning of the symbolperiod while the frequency of the sine wave is determined by the stepsize used to address successive memory locations within the sine tableROM.

The selection of the memory location that is first addressed at thebeginning of a symbol period is dependent on the phase information onoutput lines 375 of the encoder logic circuit 365. The phase informationis supplied to the start address ROM 380 which provides a start addresswhich is output to the address storage register 395. The step sizethrough which the memory locations within the sine table ROM 405 are tobe cycled is determined by the value at the output of the step sizestorage register 385. The step size storage register 385 includes one ormore memory storage locations that are accessible to a microcontrolleror DSP. The microcontroller determines the step sizes that are stored inthe step size storage register 385 based on the desired symbol carrierfrequency bins that can be used—the larger the step size, the higher thecarrier frequency. In the illustrated embodiment, the step size register385 includes nine register locations for the nine bins that can betransmitted. Preferably, the step size register 385 is programmed by themicrocontroller based on commands received from the head end unit 25.The step size value is supplied at one or more output lines 410 of thestep size register 385 to the input of the adder 390. The adder 390functions to provide the address signals that are used to successivelyaddress the memory locations of the sine table ROM 405. Accordingly, theoutput of the address register 395 is fed back to the input of the adder390 so that the sine table ROM 405 selection address is incremented bythe appropriate step size on each successive addressing cyclecorresponding to the particular frequency bins.

Since the sine table ROM 405 of the present embodiment only contains aportion of a single sine wave, an address modifier 400 is used. Theaddress modifier 400 includes combinatorial and/or programmed logiccircuits that perform calculations that ensure that the address valuesupplied to the sine table ROM 405 falls within an acceptable range andthereby accesses the appropriate portion of the wave. Such calculationsensure that the newly calculated address starts at the appropriateportion of the sine table ROM 405 without generating an undesireddiscontinuity.

The output of the sine table ROM 405 is supplied to the input of amultiplier 420. The multiplier 420 accepts each digital data value thatis output from the sine table ROM 405 and multiplies each value by thecorresponding amplitude factor as determined from the amplitudeinformation output of the encoder logic circuit 365 received along lines370.

Since the sine table ROM 405 of the presently disclosed embodimentincludes only positive values, some circuitry must be provided togenerate the negative portions of the wave. To this end, the output ofthe multiplier 420 is supplied to a two's complement converter 430 andthe most significant bit (MSB) from the address register 395 is used tosignal the converter 430 to either through-connect the output of themultiplier 420 to an accumulator 440 or perform a two's complementoperation on the output before providing it to the accumulator 440. Theaccumulator 440 adds all of the data points for the nine frequency binsthat are generated during a single sample period and provides theresulting data on output lines 445.

As will be readily recognized, the timing and control inputs from thetiming and control logic circuitry 340 are not illustrated in FIG. 10.Such inputs have been omitted in order to simplify the figure. Given theforegoing description, the timing and control operations can be readilyderived.

FIG. 11 shows yet a further embodiment of the basic elements of thetransmit engine shown in FIG. 9. In the embodiment of FIG. 11, a fullwave sine table ROM 500 is utilized. Accordingly, the two's complementcircuit 430 and the address modifier 400 are not provided.

With reference to FIG. 9, the digital filter redefine may be a partialsequence filter. The basic operation of a partial sequence filter 600can best be understood in connection with the waveforms illustrated inFIG. 12. Line 605 of FIG. 12 is a time domain signal representing onebin of an OFDM/DMT signal over three symbol periods. As shown, thebeginning of each symbol signal is generally discontinuous to thepreceding symbol signal and the end of each symbol signal is generallydiscontinuous to the beginning of the subsequent symbol signal. Thediscontinuities between symbols result in a generally broad-bandfrequency spectrum which the digital filter 325 is designed to limit.

The digital filter 325 may be implemented as a finite impulse response(FIR) filter. Typically, a FIR filter is expected to process all of thedigital samples provided by the transmit engine of the preceding stage.That is, all of the digital samples that are output from the transmitengine 320 are supplied to the input of and are processed by the FIRfilter. Such a FIR filter thus requires a substantial amount ofprocessing power. For example, a 101 tap FIR filter responsive to adigital signal having a 10 MHz sampling frequency would typicallyrequire approximately 1000 MIPS to perform the requisite multiplication.If the filter is symmetric, the complexity can be reduced so that 500MIPS are required to perform this multiplication. In either instance,such a filter implementation may be quite costly, particularly in amulti-point digital communications system.

The present inventors have recognized a unique characteristic ofDMT/OFDM signals and have used this characteristic to reduce thecomplexity of the filter. With reference to FIG. 12, the presentinventors have recognized that the OFDM/DMT signal looks like a toneduring a substantial portion of the middle of the symbol period. Thediscontinuities that broaden the frequency spectrum of the transmittedsymbols occur only at the beginning portion and end portion of thesymbol period. In view of this characteristic, the inventors haverecognized that, when the taps of a FIR filter are inside of a singlesymbol, the filter's output is approximately the same as the input. Thisrelationship exists when the FIR filter has unity gain and exhibitslinear phase in the pass band. As such, a FIR filter does not altersignals within the pass band and need only perform filtering of samplestaken at the beginning portion and end portion of a symbol period.

In view of the foregoing characteristics, the inventors have recognizedthat the filter 325 may be a partial sequence filter that digitallyfilters only a select portion of the samples of a symbol period. In anOFDM/DMT system, such as the one disclosed herein, the partial sequencefilter digitally filters only the samples occurring at a beginningportion of the sample period and an end portion of the sample period.For example, if a 101 tap FIR filter is used in the disclosed system, itbecomes possible to only digitally process 100 of the 1100 samples inevery symbol period, 50 samples at the beginning portion of a symbolperiod and 50 samples at the end portion of a symbol period. Such anapproach reduces the number of multiplies that must be executed by afactor of 100/1100, resulting in only approximately 9% of the complexitythat would otherwise be required if all 1100 samples were processed. Theresult is a reduction from 1000 MIPS to 91 MIPS. The complexity may befurther reduced using standard filtering techniques that can be used forFIR filters with symmetric taps. Since sample 1 is multiplied by thesame coefficient as used with sample 101, sample 1 may be added tosample 101 before multiplication. Likewise, sample 2 is multiplied bythe same coefficient as sample 100 and, as such, sample 2 may be addedto sample 100 before multiplication. This symmetrical relationship canbe used for approximately all of the processed samples. Application ofthis principle further reduces the complexity to 45 MIPS.

The partial sequence filtering can be implemented by dedicated hardwareor with a digital signal processor. For example, a digital signalprocessor within the head end unit 25 may be used to implement thepartial sequence filter. Alternatively, a dedicated hardware circuit,such as the one illustrated in FIG. 13, may be used to implement thepartial sequence filter.

FIG. 13 illustrates an exemplary implementation of the partial sequencefilter. As illustrated, the partial sequence filter, shown generally at600, receives blocks of data from a preceding IFT process, such as theprocess performed by the transmit engine 320. As noted above, the IFTtakes the inverse Fourier transform for a set of constellation pointsthat make up a given symbol. A new block of samples is generated oncefor every symbol. After each symbol undergoes an IFT, the time domaindata is written to either symbol buffer 610 or symbol buffer 615,alternately. It may be advantageous to use a cyclic prefix at the startof every symbol. Such a cyclic prefix is described below. In suchinstances, the end of the sequence generated by the preceding IFTprocess is tacked onto the beginning of the time sequence and functionsas the cyclic prefix.

The partial sequence filter 600 is comprised of symbol buffers 610 and615, a filter engine, shown generally at 620, a multiplexer 625, and anoutput register 630. Generally stated, after undergoing a preceding IFTprocess, the digital data for each symbol is alternately stored ineither symbol buffer 610 or symbol buffer 615. The IFT processed symboldata for each symbol is supplied from one or the other of the symbolbuffers 610, 615 to either the input of the filter engine 620 for filterprocessing and subsequent supply, for example, to thedigital-to-baseband (or IF) circuit 330, through output register 630 ordirectly, without filtering, for supply to circuit 330 through outputregister 630. Only selected portions of the data within a given symbolbuffer are supplied for filtering to the input of the filter engine 620,the remaining data being bypassed around the filter engine 620 forsupply to the input of circuit 330. The bypass operation is facilitatedby selection of the appropriate data through multiplexer 625.

As illustrated, the transmit engine 620 is comprised of registers 635and 640, adder 545, digital multiplier 650, coefficient data tablememory 655, adder 660, feedback register 665, and engine output buffer670. Together, the adder 660 and feedback register 665 constitute anaccumulator 675. With respect to the particular embodiment of the filterengine illustrated here, it is assumed that the filter is symmetric sothat the coefficient for FIR filter tap 101 is the same as thecoefficient for FIR filter tap 1. Likewise, the coefficient for tap 100is the same as that of tap 2.

In operation, given the foregoing assumptions, the sample needed for tap101 is first latched into register 635. The sample needed for tap 1 isthen latched into register 640. The two samples are added to one anotherby adder 645. The resulting sum is supplied to the input of digitalmultiplier 650 where it is multiplied by the coefficient for tap 1 assupplied from the coefficient table memory 655. The resulting digitalvalue is effectively stored in register 665 of the accumulator 675 (theinitial value contained in register 665 is assumed to be zero). The samebasic operation is next performed for the samples needed for taps 2 and100, but using the coefficient for tap 2 as supplied from thecoefficient table memory 655. The digital value resulting from themultiplication with the coefficient for tap 2, however, is added to thedigital value result of the previous multiplication that is alreadystored in register 665 by the accumulator 675. In the exemplaryembodiment, this operation is repeated for a total of 50 times. The51^(st) operation proceeds in a slightly different matter. Moreparticularly, the data corresponding to tap 51 is stored in register635, while register 640 is loaded with a zero. These values are added toone another by adder 645 and are multiplied by tap coefficient 51 atmultiplier 650. The resulting value is added to the digital value thatis already present in register 665. The result is again latched intoregister 665. As such, register 665 contains a filtered output value.This filtered output value is subsequently stored in the engine outputbuffer 670 for subsequent supply to the D/A converter of thedigital-to-baseband (or IF) circuit 330 through multiplexer 62 history 5and register 630.

FIGS. 14 A-E illustrate data passing through the filter engine 620 ofthe illustrated partial sequence filter 600 having a 101 tap FIR filter.To obtain an output sample from the filter, each tap multiplies thecorresponding data and the results of these multiplication operationsare summed together. In FIGS. 14 A-E, the data samples are denoted asX:Y, where X represents the symbol number and Y represents the samplenumber for the particular symbol. For example, the notation 1:1000represents the 1000^(th) sample of symbol number one. Each tap isdenoted by a numbered box, and the particular data sample present at agiven tap is shown therein to indicate the positions of the data sampleswithin the filter at a given time. For example, at the time designatedby the filter state represented in FIG. 14A, tap 1 is multiplying sample2:0, tap 2 is multiplying sample 1:1099, etc.

With reference to FIG. 14A, the filter contains data from both symbolnumber 1 and symbol number 2. As shown, the first sample of the secondsymbol, 2:0, has just entered the filter engine and is multiplied by thecoefficient for tap 1. All of the other taps multiply samples from theprevious symbol, symbol number 1. The digital filter output, which isthe sum of all of the multiplications, replaces sample 1:1050 for D/Aconversion. In the specific example illustrated here, the output of thefilter will always replace the data sample that is in the boxcorresponding to tap 51.

FIGS. 14 B-E illustrate subsequent operations of the filter. Moreparticularly, FIG. 14B illustrates the state of the filter in anoperation immediately subsequent to the filter state shown in FIG. 14A.FIG. 14C illustrates the state of the filter for the last sample fromsymbol 1 (1:1099) that needs to be replaced. FIG. 14D shows the state ofthe filter for the first sample from symbol 2 (2:0) that needs to bereplaced on the way to the D/A converter of the circuit 330. Finally,FIG. 14E shows the state of the filter for the last sample that needs tobe replaced in the first fifty samples of symbol number 2 (2:49). Thelast 50 samples of symbol number 2 also require filtering and would beprocessed accordingly.

To function properly, the partial sequence filter should be designed tohave an amplitude and phase effect in the pass band. Absent sucheffects, a significant discontinuity will exist between the filtered andunfiltered data. Such discontinuities may result in both in-band andout-of-band noise.

Coordination of the overall timing and control, including the readingand writing of the symbol buffers 610 and 615, control of the state ofthe filter engine 620, control of the multiplication and summingoperations, and selection of filtered or unfiltered data for output tothe D/A converter of circuit 330 are performed by the timing, addressgeneration, and control logic circuit 690 (control logic unit). Thecontrol logic unit 690 coordinates the reading and writing of the symbolbuffers 610 and 615 with receipt of data samples from the preceding IFTprocess to ensure that the IFT process is complete and that the samplesare at least beginning to be written to one of the symbol buffers beforethose samples are needed at the output register 630. The control logicunit 690 should also ensure that the samples in one or the other ofsymbol buffers 610, 615 are supplied to either the filter engine 620 orthe output register 630 before they are overwritten by the symbol datafrom the subsequent IFT operation. Additionally, the control logic unit690 should coordinate movement of the data through the partial sequencefilter so that data is available to the filter engine 620 at a ratewhich allows the filter engine to run at a moderate rate over themajority of the symbol period.

The control logic unit 690 should control the relationship between theread and write pointers associated with each of the symbol buffers 610and 615 and the engine output buffer 670 so as to minimize latency.However, latency can be added to the system design to reduce timingconstraints.

FIG. 15 illustrates the relationship between some of the buffer read andwrite pointers. In the illustration, the timing between the pointers isshown near the buffer boundaries. In a preferred embodiment of thepartial sequence filter, the read pointer 705 that gets the data fromthe engine output buffer 670 for supply to the output register 630 isalso used to read data from each of symbol buffers 610 and 615. The readpointer 705 gets data samples X:50-X:1049 from one or the other ofsymbol buffers 610 and 615 (depending on where symbol number X isstored), and gets data samples X:0-X:49 and X:1050-X:1099 from theengine output buffer 670. The appropriate samples should always beavailable to the output register 630 for subsequent processing. Toreduce latency, however, the samples are processed as close tojust-in-time as practical.

The exemplary pointer locations illustrated in FIG. 15 show the pointersnear crossover points to illustrate how close the pointers can come toone another. In the exemplary illustration, the filter engine 620 hasjust completed the writing of the outputs that will replace sample 4:49and has begun processing the 4:1050 replacements. The read pointer 705is just beginning to read sample 4:49 from the engine output buffer 670.Meanwhile, the write pointer 710 has just finished writing sample 5:49so that the filter engine has every sample required to process the4:1050 replacement.

Although not particularly pertinent to the improved receiverarchitecture disclosed herein, FIGS. 16-18 illustrate one manner ofinitiating communications between a newly added or powered-up remoteservice unit 30 and the head end unit 25. As shown at step 720, theremote service unit 30 first synchronizes its internal clocks with thehead end unit 25. One way in which this may be accomplished can bedescribed with reference to FIG. 2 which shows a pilot tone added by thehead end unit 25 to a predetermined bin output that is transmitted tothe remote service units 30. The pilot tone is extracted from thereceived signal by the receiver of the remote service unit 30 and used,for example, as a reference signal for a phase-locked-loop circuit 600.The output of the phase-locked-loop 600 is provided to the input of avoltage controlled oscillator 605 which generates the reference clockfor the remote service unit 30.

After the clock synchronization of step 720 is completed, the remoteservice unit 30 acquires its symbol timing at step 730. One way in whichsymbol timing may be acquired is illustrated in FIG. 17 which shows animpulse signal 800 being added by the head end unit 25 to the cyclicprefix CP of each symbol transmission. Preferably, the impulse signal800 reverses polarity with each successive symbol transmission so that apositive polarity impulse signal is added to the cyclic prefix of onesymbol transmission while a negative polarity impulse signal is added tothe cyclic prefix of the subsequent symbol transmission.

The receiver 110 of the remote service unit 30 finds the time locationof the transmitted impulse signal by sampling, at a predetermined rate,the symbols that it receives and alternately adding and subtracting thesamples of individual sample periods over several symbol periods. Forexample, the receiver 110 may sample the received signal at a rate, of100 samples per symbol period to generate samples SA0 . . . SA99 duringa first symbol period, SB0 . . . SB99 samples that it receives during asubsequent symbol period, SC0 . . . SC99 samples that it receives duringa subsequent third symbol period, and so on. A first sum Y0 is generatedfrom the first sample period of each sampled symbol period in accordancewith Y0=SA0−SB0+SC0 . . . . Similar sums are generated for each of thesample periods through Y99 and the resulting sums are analyzed todetermined where the peak amplitude occurs in the sampled symbol period.The time position of the peak amplitude corresponds to the time positionof the added impulse signal and, thus, the time position of the cyclicprefix occurring at the beginning of each transmitted symbol. Thereceiver 110 can then make the requisite adjustments to ensure that itreceives the symbols in proper alignment. When a narrowband receiver,such as the one described herein, is used, the received samples arepreferably multipled by cos θ_(n), where θ_(n) is n*θ₃ (see phasecompensation discussion above) and n is the symbol number.

Once the receiver 110 has acquired downstream symbol alignment, thesystem proceeds to step 740 where it acquires the downstreamcommunications channel. The downstream communications channel comprisesone or more bins used by the head end unit to establish initialcommunications with receivers 110.

After the receiver 110 has acquired the downstream communicationschannel, setup of the remote service unit communications proceeds tostep 750. At step 750, the newly added or newly powered-up remoteservice unit 30 must inform the head end unit 25 that it is in need ofregistration whereby, among other things, the head end unit 25 allocatesbins to the receiver and transmitter of the remote service unit 30. Oneproblem associated with any initial transmission from the remote serviceunit 30 to the head end unit 25 is that the transmit boundary of thenewly added remote service unit is not aligned with the transmitboundary of the other remote service units on the system. Thus, anymisaligned transmission from the newly added remote service unit maycorrupt the transmissions received from other remote service units.

One way of overcoming the problem of initial misalignment is illustratedin FIG. 18. To overcome the problem, a predetermined upstream bin isallocated as an upstream multi-access channel. The transmitter of thenewly added remote service unit transmits information on the upstreammulti-access channel in the illustrated manner by altering both itstransmit phase and transmit power. As shown, the newly added remoteservice unit first maintains its transmit phase at a predetermined phasewhile gradually increasing the transmit power. The head end unit 25 canreceive such a signal without a corresponding corruption of the datatransmitted from the other remote service units. Once the head end unit25 detects the transmission from the newly added remote service unit, itcan perform any requisite processing of the received signal, such asequalization thereof. After a predetermined period of time has elapsed,the newly added remote service unit begins to slowly vary the phase ofits transmitted signal in the illustrated manner. The transmit phase isvaried so as to convey intelligent data to the head end unit 25.Accordingly, the head end unit 25 samples the phase of the signal thatit receives on the upstream multi-access channel and uses the data, forexample, to identify the newly added remote service unit.

After the newly added remote service unit has been identified by thehead end unit 25, the head end unit 25 commands the newly added remoteservice unit, via the downstream communications channel, to send, forexample, an impulse signal of a predetermined amplitude on the upstreamcommunications channel at the symbol rate. Using the same basic methoddescribed above in connection with the remote service unit, the head endunit 25 detects the time position of the impulse signal and provides theremote service unit with the information necessary to align its symboltransmissions with the symbol transmissions of the other remote serviceunits. Further communications between the newly added remote serviceunit and the head end unit 25 can take place on the upstream anddownstream communications channels until the head end unit 25 allocatesthe transmit and receive bins that are to be assigned to the newly addedremote service unit and instructs it accordingly. Once the foregoing hasbeen completed, the head end unit 25 and the newly added remote serviceunit carry out their standard communications at step 760.

Of further note, although not of particular importance to the improvedreceiver architecture, is the fact that the present system can bedesigned to transmit and receive either 4 point constellations or 16point constellations in a given bin depending on the signal-to-noiseratio in the communications system at the bin frequency. Thisdetermination is made by the head end unit 25 and the remote serviceunit(s) transmitting and/or receiving in that bin are instructedaccordingly. In bins having a low signal-to-noise ratio, it ispreferable to use 4 point constellations. In bins having a highsignal-to-noise ratio, it is preferable to use 16 point constellations.

With the foregoing in mind, it can be seen why the embodiments of theremote service units described herein send and receive data in ninebins, respectively. In high noise conditions, four bins are needed byeach of the two phones at the customer site to transmit data and fourbins are needed by each of the two phones at the customer site toreceive data. A total of eight bins are thus required in high noiseconditions for each telephone receiver and transmitter, respectively.The further ninth bin may, for example, be used to facilitate a binswapping function.

Although the present invention has been described with reference tospecific embodiments, those of skill in the art will recognize thatchanges may be made thereto without departing from the scope and spiritof the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method of managing a symbol, representedby a plurality of samples over a symbol time period, in a digitalcommunications system, the method comprising: causing, in a processingunit, a first subset of the plurality of samples corresponding tobeginning and end portions of the symbol to be supplied to a filterengine; and causing, in the processing unit, a second subset of theplurality of samples of the symbol corresponding to a middle portion ofthe symbol to be bypassed around the filter engine.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising temporarily storing the first and the secondsubsets of the plurality of samples.
 3. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising filtering the first subset of the plurality of samples by thefilter engine.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein filtering furtherincludes filtering the beginning and the end portions of the symbolsymmetrically.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein filtering symmetricallyincludes adding a sample at the beginning portion of the symbol to acorresponding symmetric sample at the end portion of the symbol.
 6. Themethod of claim 4, wherein filtering symmetrically includes: multiplyinga coefficient to a sample at the beginning portion of the symbol; andmultiplying the coefficient to a corresponding symmetric sample at theend portion of the symbol.
 7. An apparatus for managing a symbolrepresented by a plurality of samples over a symbol time period, theapparatus comprising: a symbol buffer configured to temporarily storethe plurality of samples of the symbol; and a bypass controller,connected to the symbol buffer, that causes a first subset of theplurality of samples corresponding to beginning and end portions of thesymbol to be supplied to a filter engine and causes a second subset ofthe plurality of samples corresponding to a middle portion of the symbolto be bypassed around the filter engine.
 8. The apparatus of claim 7,further comprising another symbol buffer connected to the bypasscontroller that temporarily stores the plurality of samples of anothersymbol.
 9. The apparatus of claim 7, the filter engine is connected tothe bypass controller.
 10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the filterengine implements a FIR filter.
 11. The apparatus of claim 9, whereinthe filter engine implements a symmetric filter.
 12. The apparatus ofclaim 9, wherein the filter engine includes symmetric taps.
 13. Theapparatus of claim 9, wherein the filter engine includes an adder thatadds a sample at the beginning portion of the symbol to a correspondingsymmetric sample at the end portion of the symbol.
 14. The apparatus ofclaim 9, wherein the filter engine includes a multiplier that multipliesa coefficient to a sample at the beginning portion of the symbol andmultiplies the coefficient to a corresponding symmetric sample at theend portion of the symbol.
 15. An article of manufacture, comprising anon-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereoncomputer-readable code with executable instructions to manage a symbolover a symbol time period, the computer-readable code, when executed bya processor, causes an apparatus to: cause a first subset of theplurality of samples corresponding to beginning and end portions of thesymbol to be supplied to a filter engine; and cause a second subset ofthe plurality of samples corresponding to a middle portion of the symbolto be bypassed around the filter engine.
 16. The article of manufactureof claim 15, wherein the computer-readable code, when executed by theprocessor, further causes the apparatus to temporarily store the firstand the second subsets of the plurality of samples.
 17. The article ofmanufacture of claim 15, wherein the computer-readable code, whenexecuted by the processor, further causes the apparatus to filter thefirst subset of the plurality of samples.
 18. The article of manufactureof claim 17, wherein the computer-readable code, when executed by theprocessor, further causes the apparatus to filter the beginning and theend portions symmetrically.
 19. The article of manufacture of claim 18,wherein the computer-readable code, when executed by the processor,further causes the apparatus to, in filtering symmetrically, add asample at the beginning portion of the symbol to a correspondingsymmetric sample at the end portion of the symbol.
 20. The article ofmanufacture of claim 18, wherein the computer-readable code, whenexecuted by the processor, further causes the apparatus to, in filteringsymmetrically: multiply a coefficient to a sample at the beginningportion of the symbol; and multiply the coefficient to a correspondingsymmetric sample at the end portion of the symbol.